Shri Krishna’s Dwarka submerged in 1443 BC  

Posted by Ambar jaiswal


For thousands of years, we Indians have believed in the divinity of Shri Krishna. For us he was a Karmayogi par excellence who gave us action oriented philosophy of life in the form of Bhagavad Gita. But questions have constantly haunted us as to whether Shri Krishna was a historical character or is a mythical character and whether war of Mahabharata was actually fought or was it great poet Vyasa’s imagination.Till recent past we did not have the wherewithal to search for and establish the truth. But modern scientific tools and techniques like computers with planetarium softwares, advancements in archaeological and marine archaeological techniques, earth-sensing satellite photography and thermoluminescence dating methods, all have made it possible to establish the authenticity and dating of many events narrated in ancient texts like Mahabharata. Recent archaeo-astronomical studies, results of marine-archaeological explorations and overwhelming archaeological evidence have established the historicity and dating of many events narrated in the epic Mahabharata. These have led to the conclusion that Mahabharata War was actually fought in 1478 BC and Shri Krishna’s Dwarka City got submerged under the sea in 1443 BC.
Astronomical Evidence - In the Mahabharata references to sequential solar and lunar eclipses as also references to some celestial observations have been made. Dr. R.N.Iyengar, the great scientist of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore examined relevant references and searched for the compatible dates by making use of planetarium software (PVIS and EZC). He concluded that most of these references were internally consistent and that the eclipses and celestial observations of Mahabharata belong to the period 1493 BC – 1443 BC of Indian History. (refer Indian Journal of History of Science/38.2/2003/77-115).In the Mahabharata there are references to three sequential solar eclipses and to some other planetary positions. Reference to the first solar eclipse comes in the Sabha Parva (79.29), graphically described by Vidur when Pandavas start their journey to the forest on being banished for 12 years of life in exile and one year of life incognito after they had lost everything in the game of dice. After 13 years of exile and incognito life, Pandavas came back to Hastinapur and they demanded their kingdom back but Duryodhana refused. Several efforts to prevent war failed and war became imminent. There is a reference to the second solar eclipse in the Bhisma Parva (3.29), following a lunar eclipse occurring within the same fortnight a few days before the actual war of Mahabharata. These eclipses occurred after 14-15 years of the first solar eclipse The epic also refers to some unfavourable planetary positions between the second solar eclipse and the beginning of the war on Kartika Purnima (Bhisma Parva 3.14 to 3.19). On Kartika Krishna Ashtami, Saturn was near Rohini and Mars was between Jayestha and Anuradha. Twenty two days later, on Kartika Purnima, Saturn was near Rohini, Mars was near Jayestha, a rough planet (probably uranus) was between Citra and Swati. Another white planet (possibly Jupiter) had moved from Purva-bhadra to Uttar-bhadra. Reference to the third solar eclipse comes in the Mausala Parva (2.19 to 2.20) occurring in the 36th year of the Mahabharata War. This was visible from the city of Dwarka which is stated to have been subsequently submerged under the sea. For these observations to be internally consistent, there should had been three solar eclipses within a period of 50 years. The first one and the second one after a gap of 14-15 years should have been visible from Kurukshetra whereas the third solar eclipse should have been visible from Dwarka after 35 years of the second one.
From references to these eclipses and celestial observations Dr. Iyengar prepared the list of compatible dates and concluded that these eclipses alongwith the stated planetary positions were observable during the period 1493 BC – 1443 BC because the planetarium software shows that:
(i) On 19.3.1493 BC there was solar eclipse visible from Kurukshetra.
(ii) After about 15 years, on 1st June, 1478 BC, there was a solar eclipse visible from Kurukshetra which was preceded by a lunar eclipse during the same fortnight on 16th May 1478 BC.
(iii) About 3 months later, there was Kartika Krishna Ashtami on 20.9.1478 BC when Saturn was near Rohini (in Bhar-Kritika) and Mars was between Jayestha and Anuradha.
(iv) Three weeks later, on 12.10.1478 BC, there was Kartika Purnima when the war actually started. On that day, Saturn was still near Rohini (as it actually moved from Bhar Kritt to Rohini between 1.6.1478 BC to 10.11.1478 BC). Mars was near Jayestha. Uranus, which probably is referred to as rough planet, was between Citra and Swati. Jupiter had moved from Purva-bhadra to Uttar-bhadra on 12.10.1478 BC.
(v) In the 36th year after Mahabharata war in October 1478 BC, a solar eclipse could be seen from Dwarka on 7.1.1443 BC.
Thus as per archaeo-astronomical calculations, Mahabharata War was fought in 1478 BC and Dwarka City got submerged in 1443 BC. These conclusions arrived at are corroborated by marine archeologists, archeologists as well as by the historians who have analysed the genealogy charts of rulers given in Puranas.
Marine Archaeological explorations around Dwarka - The on-shore and off-shore explorations carried out in and around Dwarka during last 50 years have revealed that Dwarka was a prosperous city in ancient times which was destroyed and reconstructed several times. The work of great excavators like Shri Z.D.Ansari and Shri M.S.Mate and chance discovery of temples of 9th century AD and 1st century AD buried near the present Dwarkadhish Temple prompted setting of a Marine Archaeology Centre jointly by National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) and Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). A project for marine archaeological explorations in Dwarka was initiated under the dynamic leadership of great marine archaeologist Dr. S.R.Rao who has the distinction of being awarded “The World Ship Trust Award” for outstanding research done in this field.
Dr. S.R.Rao’s team consisted of expert under-water explorers, trained diver-photographers and experienced archaeologists. The technique of geophysical survey was combined with the use of echo-sounders, mud-penetrators, sub-bottom profilers and under-water metal detectors. This team carried out twelve marine archaeological expeditions between the year 1983 to 1992 AD and articles/antiquities recovered were sent to Physical Research Laboratory for dating. By using thermoluminescence, carbon dating and other modern scientific techniques, artifacts were found to be belonging to the period 15th century BC to 18th century BC. In his great work “The Lost City of Dwarka”, Dr. S.R.Rao has given graphic and scientific details of these discoveries and artifacts. He has concluded that:
(i) The land for building the city of Dwarka had been reclaimed from the sea between 16th to 15th century BC and a fortified city was built on boulder packing with outer gateway to the sea and inner gateway to Gomti river. This corroborates the references in the Epic Mahabharata as per which Dwarka city was built by Shri Krishna after reclaiming the land from the sea and it was built only a few years before the Game of Dice in 1493 BC.
 
(ii) The thermoluminescence dating of lustrous Redware Pottery items found during explorations revealed that these were 3520 years old i.e. around 16th-15th century BC.
(iii) The most famous rectangular seal with engraved motifs of bull, unicorn and goat found in trench UW6 in the sea bed was dated as belonging to 16th century BC. The seal corroborates the references made in the ancient manuscripts that every citizen of Dwarka was required to carry a mudra(seal) as a mark of identification.
3 animal headed mudra, votive jar and copper bell
 

(iv) A copper bell and a copper lota, brass-items including U-shaped objects with holes at both ends and a bronze bell, all were dated as belonging to 15th century BC. Stone anchors with double holes and triangular prismatic stone anchors recovered from under the sea were similar to the ones found in Lothal excavations belonging to 23rd century BC.
(v) A votive jar with seven characters inscribed was found. Reading based on Semitic-Indus-Phonetic value revealed that script is old Indo-Aryan and similar to the other Indus seal inscriptions. The date assigned to this votive jar and inscriptions is 15th-14th century BC.
(vi) Three iron nails and a stake, four potsherds and one small bottle of iron were dated 16th-15th century BC indicating limited use of iron.Thus, conclusions arrived at after carrying out these under-water archaeological explorations support and validate the dates arrived at through astronomical calculations. These also prove that the reconstructed city of Dwarka was a prosperous port town and that it was in existence for about 60-70 years in the 15th century BC before being submerged under the sea in the year 1443 BC.
artist’s view based on marine archaeological reports and sumerged wall

Other Archaeological excavations – Most of the cities referred to in Mahabharata e.g.Mathura, Hastinapur, Indraprastha, Kurukshetra and Dwarka were situated in the territories which are at present known as Haryana, Punjab, Delhi, UP, Rajasthan and Gujarat. Extensive excavations carried out in these areas have shown that Indus Civilization flourished in these areas between 3400-1500 BC. The excavations carried out in Lothal in Gujarat have proved the existence of very advanced civilization between 2300 BC to 1600 BC. The town was divided into the dock, the arcopolis and the industrial, commercial, residential sectors. Artifacts recovered include gold jewellery and copper utensils. Archaeological surveys at Kalibhangan in Rajasthan have identified the existence of a planned fortified city between 2500-1700 BC. Artifacts excavated include baked bricks, semi precious stones, copper and bronze articles. Photographs taken by American earth-sensing satellite known as Landsat have confirmed that the river Saraswati described in the Rigveda as flowing from the “mountain to the sea” was indeed a great river before 2000 BC. Archaeological explorations on the ancient beds of the Saraswati e.g. at Kunal near Kurukshetra and at Banawali in Punjab have confirmed the existence of highly advanced civilisation during 3400-1500 BC. Artifacts excavated include silver jewellery and articles made of copper and bronze. Taken as a whole archaeological excavations establish the continuous evolution of Sindhu-Saraswati civilisation between 3400-1500 BC culminating in the Mahabharata period. The inhabitants of all the excavated places had similar ethnic features, spoke similar languages, followed similar religious rites which were vedic in nature, knew about horse and rice, had advanced knowledge of mathematics, made extensive use of copper and had discovered the use of iron. These discoveries match with the details in the Epic as also with the belief of the historians that the use of iron was discovered in India in 16th century BC. The War of Mahabharata acted as a watershed, putting an end to the ‘copper age’ and ushering in the ‘iron age’ in 15th century BC. Archaeological excavations thus support the conclusion that Mahabharata War was fought in 1478 BC.Attempts have also been made to determine the year of Mahabharata War from the details available in scriptures and ancient texts which include Puranas. When events are unrecorded for quite some time and they are passed on to the succeeding generations through Shruti and Smriti traditions, the inaccuracies and myths get mixed with reality on account of differences in the perceptions of different individuals. However, it is for the objective rational individual mind to find out and differentiate facts from fictions. Important informations, including the genealogy charts of rulers after Yudhishtira, are available in Srimad Bhagvatam, Matsya Puran and Vayu Purana. On the basis of such evidence, famous historian Lord Cunningham assigned the year 1424 BC to the War of Mahabharata. Another historian Shri S.B.Roy in his work ‘Date of Mahabharata Battle’ also arrived at the same conclusion by combining the literary and the astronomical route.All these are very important pieces of evidence which prove that epic Mahabharata is not merely a myth but is history and its central character Shri Krishna was a man with extra-ordinary abilities, around whom legends were built over the years. The common man started having faith in the divinity of this Supreme Hero, who for them is God incarnate.After knowing all this, there can be no doubt in the mind of any rational person that what has been taught to us in our school history books is not all correct. As per our history books, Aryans came to India from Central Asia in their war Chariots in 15th century BC. They defeated and destroyed the natives who were “aboriginal savages” . According to this theory both the Vedas and the Sanskrit language were brought into India by these Aryan invaders. The most influential proponents of this theory were Max Muller and William Jones who were linguists and they arrived at this conclusion on being struck by the affinities between Sanskrit and European languages.This theory is not supported by any archaeological, physical or scientific evidence. When subsequently archaeological excavations at more than 1100 sites scattered all over major parts of India proved beyond doubt the existence of flourishing Indus civilization during 3400 BC to 1500 BC then the proponents of Aryan invasion theory reacted by suggesting that the invading Aryans had defeated the ‘Dravidian inhabitants’ of the Indus valley, least realising that such theoretical assumption would change the character of invading Aryans from bringers of civilisation to destroyers of great civilisation and culture developed by the native Indians.
The four sets of evidences referred to earlier point more to the probability that nobody had come to India from Central Asia or from any other place. In fact, Indo-Aryan, kings and warriors had come to Kurukshetra in their war Chariots from all over India to participate in the Mahabharata War and that a whole lot of people got killed in that war. The killers as well as the killed, the victors as well as the vanquished, the charioteers as well as the foot soldiers, all were Indians who had already experienced thousands of years of prosperous and advanced civilisation. Archaeology also records a continuous indigenous evolution of vedic civilisation going back to 5000 BC at sites like Mehrgarh and Koldi. It is sad that, so far we have not known even a fraction about our ancient civilization and cultural achievements. Detailed factual data in our ancient texts and sanskrit manuscripts is beckoning us to carry out further researches. By making use of most modern scientific instruments and techniques we must discover the true facts about our most ancient past. If we do that, we may be able to gather supportive evidences to reassert that ours was the oldest civilisation in the world that flourished in India and that our ancestors i.e. vedic Aryans had travelled from India to various parts of Asia and Europe to spread our knowledge, civilisation and culture. When this is recorded we would be able to hold our heads higher and will be able to take on the future with greater confidence.
 
 
Bibliography
1) “The lost city of Dawarka’ by Shri S.R. Rao ( Emeritus scientist and adviser, Marine Archeology), head of Team for Exploration in Dwarka by Marine Archeology Centre. Aditya Prakashan , New Delhi.
2) R.N. Iyengar’s “ Internal consistency of eclipses and planetary positions in Mahabharata” (Indian Journal of History of science, 38.2(2003) 77-115
3) ‘Mahabharata’ Translated into English from original Sanskrit Text by M.M. Dutt (Parimal Publications, Delhi ) – 7 Parvas (volumes)
4) “Lothal – A Harappan Port Town” By S.R. Rao – Vol. I & II, Archaeological Survey of India.
5) “The Saraswati flows on” by B.B. Lal, Aryan Book International, New Delhi.
6) “Date of Mahabharata War” by Shri S.B. Roy, The Academic Press Gurgoan.
7) “The Astronomical Code of the Rig Veda” by Subhash Kar, Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd, Delhi.
8) “Reference Encyclopedia (India – 2001)” By Hanna Myer, joint imprint created by Mermaid center, Bangalore & Indmark Publishing New Delhi.
9) “Vedic Aryans and the Origins of Civilization” by Navaratna S. Rajaram and David Frawlley – Voice of India, New Delhi
10) Ansari, Z.D. And Mate M.S. ( 1966) Excavations of Dwarka, Deccan College, Puna.
11) Rao, S.R. (1988) ‘ Marine Archaeology in India’ in “ 40 years of Research – A CSIR Overview”, Delhi.
12) Rao, S.R. (1991) “Dawn and Devolution of the Indus Civilization” Aditya Prakashan, New Delhi.

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Mystery of Sarsavati River  

Posted by Ambar jaiswal


Missing of a prominent river from the map is not a mystery; it is quite natural and is attributable to environmental changes. Judged in the broader perspective of geological evolution; disappearance of rivers, shifting of their courses, capture of one river by another, slow drying up of river beds, are all normal responses to tectonism, earthquakes, climatic changes and other natural events. Some recent examples are; Oxus river in central Asia has disappeared, Jordan river no more flows through Jordan as it dries up before entering Jordan, Jhelum changed its course in 1552-55 AD and Beas changed its course during 1996 flash floods. However, upto the middle of 20th century, in the absence of any credible scientific research reports, history of India was being written on the basis of linguistic theories and guesswork and our historians just presumed that Sarasvati river was only mythical, a mere imagination. However, methods based on linguistics and politics are progressively giving way to methods based on science and technology e.g. satellite imagery, archaeology, geology, geophysics, glaceology and oceanography etc. and the role of ecology in the rise and fall of civilizations/ creation and disappearance of rivers is being increasingly accepted and appreciated.
The results of scientific research carried out during last 40 years have proved, fairly beyond doubt, that Sarasvati River was not a myth but a reality and that it was a mighty river which originated from the Himalayas and met the Arabian Sea in the Runn of Kuchchh after flowing through Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan & Gujarat states of India and Bahawalpur & Sind districts of Pakistan. These scientific evidences gathered include: -
1. Study of global climatic changes – Ecological dynamics model, which gives ecological reasons for origin, development and decay of Sarasvati river. 2. Pictures taken by LANDSAT(USA), Indian Remote Sensing Satellites [IRS-1C], French SPOT Satellites and Radar imagery from European Remote Sensing Satellites (ERS ½), which provide evidence about the flow, migration and decay of Sarasvati River. 3. References in most ancient Sanskrit manuscripts indicating different phases of development, migration and disappearance of Sarasvati River, which corroborate the satellite imagery.
4. Geological and hydrological evidences gathered by the geologists – listing the palaeochannels reflecting different stages of migration and decay of Sarasvati river.
5. Research reports from geophysicists, geomorphologists, climatologists, oceanographers and glaciologists etc.
6. Archaeological reports including marine archaeology reports.
7. Research carried out by the Rajasthan State Groundwater Board for assessing groundwater potential in Rajasthan through Hydrological drilling and dating.
1. Ecological Dynamics Model : The scientists have explained the origin, development, decay and disappearance of Sarasvati river through ecological dynamics model. The last ice age ended around 10000 BC; with the rising temperatures releasing waters from the ice caps. Such melting of glaciers resulted in the discharge of enormous quantities of water into the Indian subcontinent which flowed in the form of numerous rivers and streams which included Sarasvati, Drishtavati and Sutlej. Such phenomenon is abundantly recorded in Vedic hymns; e.g. – “you Indra ! have set free the rivers arrested by Ahi, i.e., sepantive glaciers” [Rigveda – 4:17:1]. Further names of 10 such rivers are recorded sequentially from east to west, namely Ganga, Yamuna, Sarasvati, Sutlej (Sutudri), Ravi (Purushni), Chenab (Asikni), Manivardavan, Jhelum (Vitasta), Sohana (Sushama) and Vyas (Arjikya) [Rig Veda (10:75:5)].
Out of these ten rivers, seven are still flowing and located in the same sequence but 3 have dried up and their relicts can be seen in the form of palaeochannels. These rivers brought prosperity to north-western India, giving rise to most advanced ‘Vedic’ civilization. Sarasvati was then the mightiest river, having several tributaries, flowing from the mountain to the sea. Over the following several thousand years, the accumulated supply of water from the Himalayan Glaciers came to be depleted. Further due to tectonic movements and earthquakes Sarasvati got disconnected from its source. Thus, it became a non-perennial river and then dried up between 3000 to 2000 BC.
Thus, it was due to ecological reasons that Sarasvati river originated, became a mighty river on account of swelling water volumes and then slowly disappeared/dried up, leaving its traces in paleochannels of Ghaggar, Hakra and Nara.
Satellites Imagery : 
There is an overwhelming evidence from remote earth sensing pictures taken by LANDSAT (USA), IRS-IC (India), SPOT (France), ERS-½ (Europe) that prior to 3000 BC a mighty river, described as Sarasvati in the Vedas, flowed from the Himalayas through the present Ghaggar Hakra bed in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Bahawalpur (in Pakistan) and then through the Nara bed in Sind (Pakistan); making delta in the Runn of Kuchchh before flowing into the Arabian Sea. More than 7000 years back it was the mightiest river, having Yamuna & Sutlej as its tributaries and was flowing along the Aravalli Hills. Due to northward movement of the plate of Indian subcontinent, tectonic upheaval of the Aravallis, basement structural high of Delhi-Hardwar ridge, Sarasvati river kept on migrating towards west and northwest. Its two tributaries, Yamuna and Sutlej, migrated in opposite directions – Yamuna moved eastward to join the Ganges later-on and Sutlej moved westward and was flowing as an independent river upto the sea for hundreds of years and thereafter joined Beas, a tributary of Sind River. Studies of LANDSAT imagery have revealed that there were seven main stages of this migration of river Sarasvati. Bakliwal and Grover have described these seven stages in their book “Signature and Migration of Sarasvati River in the Desert”. In the first stage it was flowing along the foothills of Aravalli, in the 3rd stage through Bikaner and Ramdevera meeting Luni near Tilwara. In the 5th stage Sarasvati passed through Jaisalmer Runns and Gad Road to reach the Rann of Kachchh and in the seventh stage it flowed through the present dry bed of Ghaggar, through Hakra and then flowed through Nara to meet Rann of Kachchh. The differences and discrepancies in study reports of archaeologists/geologists are because they have been studying the dry channels of Sarasvati river in different stages of its north-westerly migration.
Yashpal et al studied the LANDSAT imagery of palaeochannels (Refer – “Remote sensing of the Lost Sarasvati River (1980)” and deciphered these as under :-
 
[Present river system and the major palaeochannels as deciphered from LANDSAT imagery (after YashPal et at-1980)]– pg 123 of Memoir 42 of GSI, Bangalore.
 
The study led to the description of present drainage system and palaeochannels of Sarasvati and its tributaries and it supported the following conclusions :-
 
(i) The Sutlej once flowed into the present Ghaggar (Sarasvati) river bed and was probably joined by the Yamuna.
 
(ii) The Sutlej has a sharp westward right-angled bend near Ropar suggestive of its diversion due to change in the river course.
 
(iii) There is a sudden widening of narrow Ghaggar valley at Shatrana (25 Km south of Patiala) indicative of a major river joining Ghaggar bed here.
 
(iv) Another channel which corresponds to the Drishadvati (present Chautang) joins Sarasvati (Ghaggar) near Suratgarh.
 
(v) That the Yamuna probably flowed into the ancient Sarasvati before joining Ganga through Chambal.
 
(vi) Physiographically, there is depression westward (elevation less than 230 m msl) and a corresponding uplift eastward (elevation more than 250 m msl) of the old Sutlej bed, which might have forced its westward migration.
 
(vii) Near Anupgarh Sarasvati bifurcates and both channels come to an abrupt end at Marot and Beriwala (in Bahawalpur Distt of Pakistan) from where Sarasvati is likely to have extended through the Hakra/Nara bed to the present Runn of Kachchh.
As per Ghosh, Kar & Husain, LANDSAT imagery has revealed hitherto unknown abandoned courses of the former Sarasvati River in Jaisalmer District of Rajasthan (“The lost courses of Sarasvati river in the great Indian Desert”). Based on study of remotely sensed data of IRS-IC Ramasamy & Verma have concluded that there are plenty of paleo-channels with well sprung-up tentacles throughout the Thar Desert which reveal the traces of mighty Sarasvati river which once ruled the desert (Remote Sensing & River Migrations in Western India). The river kept on shrinking in size due to change of course by the tributaries and finally due to some major tectonic upheavals in the Himalayas, the glacier connection of the river got severed converting Sarasvati into a non-perennial river dependant on monsoon rains. Sarasvati’s march to oblivion commenced around 3000 BC; bereft of water, the Sarasvati remained here and there as disconnected pools/lakes e.g. Didwara and Sambhar etc and ultimately got reduced to dry channel beds e.g. Ghaggar and Hakra. Thus, the satellite imagery corroborates the findings of ecological dynamic model.
Literary Evidence :
These different stages in the northwest migration of River Sarasvati do get broadly reflected in the hymns of Vedas and other ancient manuscripts – the early stages agree with the description in Rigveda, Middle stages with the hymns of Yayurveda/Atharvaveda whereas the last stages coincide with the description in Mahabharata.
In Rig Veda, Sarasvati is described as the mightiest river – “Seven sistered, sprung from three-fold sources” [6:61:12]. Again it is described as “Saptathi Sindhumata” i.e., mother of seven rivers strongly flowing and swelling in volumes (7:36:6). Prayers are offered to ten rivers including Sarasvati, the names are mentioned sequentially– “O Ganga, Yamuna, Sarasvati, Sutlej, Ravi, Chenab, Marudvrudha, Jhelam, Sohana and Vyas and other rivers listen to our eulogy (10:75:5)”.
 
In later part of Rig Veda, Sarasvati, Sarayu and Sindhu are worshipped as three mighty rivers [10:64:9].
 
Therefore, it does not appeal to reason that only one out of seven rivers, one out of ten rivers or one out of three rivers would be imaginary and mythical whereas others were and are a reality. It is true that the descriptions of Sarasvati river in vedic literature are intervined with mythological events but so are the descriptions of Ganges. Therefore, instead of denying the existence of Sarasvati river, we should separate the poetic imagination from hard facts.
 
In Yayurveda, it is said that five equally celebrated rivers merged with the mighty Sarasvati. The same Sarasvati got divided into five glorified flows in the country. Five tributaries were Drishadvati, Satudri (Sutlej), Chandrabhaga (chenab), Vipasa (Vyas) and Iravati (Ravi). The five distributaries are named in Skanda Purana as Harini, Vjrini, Hyunk, Kapila and Sarasvati. Thus, whereas Sarasvati had 7 tributaries, including Yamuna, during Rigveda era, it was left with only 5 tributaries (minus Yamuna) by the time Yayurveda was compiled.
 
Mahabharata gives a clear geographical account of Sarasvati becoming a non-perennial river vanishing and re-appearing in the deserts [3:80:118 & 9:36:1], surviving in the form of a number of lanes e.g. Brahmasar, jyotisar, Kaleswar (in Haryana), Katasar, Pandusar & Ravisar (in Rajasthan). Kurukshetra is described as located in the south of Sarasvati and north of Drishadvati [Mbh. 3:81:115]
 
Thus, pictures taken by Remote Earth Sensing Satellites Corroborate the references to location and course of Sarasvati River in ancient Vedic literature.
Geological and Hydrological Evidences :
Climatic changes and geotectonic movements have led to migration and abandonment of several rivers and drainage systems. Geological, hydrological and archaeological evidences support the satellite imagery of paleochannels which correspond with the course of ancient Sarasvati river. Glaciological record indicates that more than 12000-10000 years back there were glaciers all around in Himalayas which began to melt due to the warming of climate. The melting of glaciers released the pent up waters that flowed into mighty river channels, which included Sarasvati and its tributaries like Drishadvati, Sutlej and Yamuna.
 According to geological and glaciological evidences, a stream of Sarasvati was supposed to have originated in Bandapunch massif. Even today Sarasvati flows from the South of Mana pass which meets river Alakananda, 3 Km away in the south of Mana village. Descending through Adibadri, Bhavanipur & Balchapur in the foothills to the plains, the river took roughly a southwesterly course, passing through the plains of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and finally debouched into the Arabian Sea at Great Rann of Kuchchh. Research reports prepared by geologists have concluded that at one time it had at least 3 tributaries, Shatadru originating from Mt Kailas, Drishadvati from Shiwalik Hills and the old Yamuna. They flowed together along a channel, presently known as Ghaggar in Punjab, Hakra and Nara. Research reports by geologists have revealed that the drainage systems/ paleochannels of this area came into existence more than 8000 years back as is indicated by the age of waters trapped beneath the desert in Jaisalmer of west Rajasthan.
As per Valdiya and Sridhar, ancient India had four main drainage systems, namely – Indus, Shatadru, Sarasvati and Drishadvati. All these rivers originated in the Himalaya foothills and after traversing the vast expanse their mouths came quite close to one another as is suggested by the paleo-delta complex showing three deltaic river mouths in the Great Runn of Kachchh :-
 This reconstruction of rivers, based on geological surveys, corroborates the LANDSAT imagery showing that at one stage Sutlej flowed independently from the mountain to the sea after getting disconnected from Sarasvati river.
 Map showing ancient drainage network (after Sridhar et al. this volume) (Ref Memoir 42 of GSI, Bangalore – Page No.165)
 
Celebrated geologist R.D.Oldham wrote about the lost river Sarasvati stating that the river got dried up due to the diversion of waters of Sutlej and the Yamuna [journal of Asiatic Society, Bengal, 1886 V55-322-343]. A little later in 1893, C F Oldham (Journal of Royal Asiatic Society, 1893 – V34. PP. 49-76) had also described Sarasvati river as flowing from the mountain to the sea. He also made references to the changing courses of river Sarasvati propounding the view that the vedic description of Sarasvati agrees with its ancient course (identified through paleochannels) whereas the description given in Mahabharata coincides with its later position. As per Oldham, Ghaggar is the other name for ancient Sarasvati and that 7 miles east of Sirsa is another old bed of Sarasvati and Sirsa gets its name from the ancient fortress of Sarsuti (Sarasvati). He goes on to say that when Sutlej changed its course to the westward, and abandoned the east arm of Hakra, the Sarasvati was left in the possession of the deserted channel, in the sands of which its waters were swallowed up. After intensive research and analysis, Oldham also came to the conclusion that Rann of Kuchchh was once an estuary.
 
NEARCHUS reconstructed the Water Network Map of Hakra Channel (Yamuna-Sarasvati-Sultej) in 1875 as under after conducting extensive geographical/geophysical surveys.
 [Reconstruction of water network in the region of the Hakra channel (Yamuna-Sarasvati-Sutlej)-1874 – pg. 101 of Memoir 42 of GSI,Bangalore.
 
Thus, even in 1874 when drainage and palaeochannels network was reconstructed on the basis of geological surveys, Sutlej and Drishadvati were shown as the tributaries of Sarasvati, whereas Ghaggar and Hakra were described as its dried up palaeochannels, corroborating the satellite imagery.
 
Archaeological Finds :
Archaeological excavations and research reports further corroborate the geological findings and satellite imagery. More than 1200 ancient settlements on Sarasvati river basin have been dug out giving clinching evidence of existence of a mighty river, which sustained maritime civilization and metal-based economy prior to 3000 BC (S.Kalyanaraman in journal of Geological Society of India No.42, 1`999 PP 25-33). It has been concluded that it was possible to travel on the Sarasvati river from the gulf of Khambat to Mathura via Lothal, Dholavira, Granweriwala, Kalibangan, Banawali, Paonta-Doon, Rakhigarhi and Indraprastha. Based on the evidence gathered through exacavations, the Arachaeologists have concluded that between 7000 BC to 2500 BC an advanced civilization, vedic in nature, was flourishing along Sarasvati and Indus rivers. When Sarasvati started drying up, Vedic Aryans moved towards west beyond Indus, east beyond Ganges & south beyond Godavari. It was the continuation of Sarasvati-Indus Civilization, which was given the name ‘Harappan’ probably because the first town excavated was Harappa. Archaeological Survey of India has dug out more than 2400 settlements at the ancient Indus-Sarasvati river basins but no ancient settlements have been found along the present day course of Yamuna or Sutlej.
As per V.S.Wakankar, who is known as ‘Bhisham Pitamah’ of Archaeology, extensive excavations carried out by the Archaeological Survey of India have revealed that :
(i) Harappan and Pre-Harappan Civilizations developed along ancient Sarasvati and therefore these may be more appropriately described as part of Sarasvati-Indus Civilizations.
 
(ii) Most of the Rishi Ashrams described in Ramayana and Mahabharata were lined along Sarasvati river.
 
(iii) Perforated pottery jars and fire altars (µÖ–֍ãÓ›) are found in most of the 1200 settlements excavated along Sarasvati river indicating that civilization which flourished was vedic.
(iv) Land was fertile and barley etc were cultivated in the Sarasvati region even 7000 years back and same style of cultivating the fields continues till date in areas like Rajasthan & Haryana. [Atharvaved (6:30:1)]
(v) It is unhistoric and unscientific to say that Vedic Aryans migrated from any other region to India. They belonged to India & compiled Vedas in settlements along Sarasvati River.
The same culture and civilization continues till date, as has been convincingly described by Dr. B.B.Lal, Director General (Retd.) of Archaeological Survey of India, in his book “The Sarasvati Flows on – the continuity of Indian Culture”.
According to Prof. Max Muller, “the loss of Sarasvati is later than the Vedic age, and that during vedic age, the waters of Sarasvati reached the sea.” There are great details, in our ancient books & manuscripts, of earthquakes, volcanic activities and tectonic movements which led to decay/disappearance of Sarasvati e.g. in Mahabharata it is stated to have disappeared in Vinasana (somewhere near Sirsa). Recently water has sprung out from underground in Kalayat (Kaithal in Haryana), which relates to ancient Sarasvati river as per the Geological Department of Kurukshetra University because scientific analysis of the water revealed presence of Zircon, christolite, termaline, sterolite & chloride etc which are found only in paleochannels of very old dried up rivers which originated from the Himalayas. [News item Dainik Jagran dated 03.02.2006]
Geophysical and Geomorphological Studies :
Geophysical and geomorphological studies carried out by wilhelmy, Bakliwal and A.K.Grover (Records of Geological Survey of India, 1988, V 116, PP 77-86) have revealed that migration of Sarasvati was caused by tectonic disturbances, shifts due to the rise in Hardwar-Delhi ridge zone, Luni-Sukri lineaments causing severe earthquakes and Kachchh fault facilitated by climatic variations. The stream piracy of Sutlej by Beas and of Yamuna by Ganges at later stage is responsible for the drying up of the Sarasvati. The groundwater, and geophysical data corroborates these findings. The presence of older alluvial plains with medium textured soils below the sands of Thar desert indicates activities of some mighty rivers in the past. The geophysical surveys in Ganganagar, Bikaner and Jaisalmer areas have revealed several zones of less saline under-ground water which is dated more than 5000 years old. (Refer reports of Rajasthan Ground Water Board). Instead of denying the existence of such water zones due to same kind of inferiority complex, research work should be intensified in order to identify sources of groundwater and possible locales for rainwater harvesting.
Histo-geographical studies carried out by M.L.Bhargava (The Geography of Rigvedic India) have revealed existence of Sarasvati (Ghaggar is the relict) and Drishtavati (Chautang is the relict) and that between the two was located Brahamavarta, the original home of Aryans. Sarasvati is supposed to have joined the sea near Prabhasa , i.e., Somnath. Based on the study of paleodrainage of northern India, Wilhelmy concluded that prior to Alexander’s invasion in 325 BC, there prevailed 2 independent river systems; one comprised the Hakra-Nara courses (i.e. Sarasvati) and the other, Indus progressively shifting to the west.
Drainage of northwestern India (after Wilhelmy,1969). (Ref.Memoir 42 of GSI, Bangalore-page no. 192)
 
Studies in Sea level fluctuations, climatology, Radio carbon and isotope dating of groundwater have corroborated that from 8000 BC to 4000 BC, there was abundant supply of water to the Sea. The climate started drying up from 3000 BC onwards and reached an arid phase around 2000 BC. Isotopic study of groundwater in Jaisalmer and Ganganagar districts of Rajasthan by Nair and Rao has concluded that shallow groundwater was 2000 to 6000 years old and deep seated groundwater was 6000 to 12000 years old confirming that these were paleowaters, apparently indicating that these were part of Sarasvati river which became non-perennial and slowly dried up around 5000-4000 BC. R.V.Athavale of National Geophysical Research Institute has culled out evidence of 12 earthquakes from archaeological and geomorphological records of excavated Harappan (Vedic) sites. He concluded that an earthquake around 3100 BC may have resulted in Sarasvati losing Yumuna (which shifted eastward). Again due to an earthquake in 2500 BC Sarasvati might have lost Sutlej which moved westward. In 2001, during earthquakes in Gujarat, cracks appeared in dry land of Katchchh and the water sprung out, which, as per the geologists and scientists, was more than 4000 years old and related to Sarasvati River.
 
Sarasvati in a sense is like modern India, having forgotten its heritage of Himalayan proportions, it has lost itself in a featureless desert! Nevertheless, it is still hidden and is capable of restoring the past glory. Scientific evidences based on satellite imagery, archaeological, geological, geophysical, glaciological, oceanographical research have proved that to consider Sarasvati as mythical is unhistoric and unscientific. In fact ancient wisdom and modern technology should now combine to trace step by step evolution of mighty river Sarasvati and to remind India, particularly Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab and Uttranchal areas, that the greatest and most ancient vedic civilization flourished in these areas more than 5000 years back when Vedas were written in the settlements along the course of Sarasvati river and its tributaries. Reverence for this glorious past is a necessary element of patriotism. Allowing propagation of a false view of one’s own cultural heritage is not tolerance but self-betrayal. The scientific evidences gathered indicate that our motherland, land belonging to India as well as to Pakistan was home to the oldest a well as the greatest civilization, which flourished alongwith the Sarasvati-Indus rivers. As custodians of this great tradition it is our duty to lead the efforts in working out more accurate view of our history. In the settlements along these rivers Vedas were composed, which are the source of invaluable & profound knowledge and which are common heritage of Hindus as well as of Muslims, of all the people who live on this land, because the history is that of the land, which has seen the rise and fall of several civilizations.

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Scientific Dating of Ramayan Era  

Posted by Ambar jaiswal


The beginning of the Holocene (post last ice age) is now universally accepted to be around 12000 BP. Consequently the civilizations of the world naturally and simultaneously started developing near the rivers which initially started flowing due to the melting of glaciers near the Equator e.g. South India, Sri Lanka and Africa. When populations multiplied, these river waters became insufficient. Therefore some people started travelling from south to north. Such northward migration continued for several centuries and finally when these people from south India reached the banks of Himalayan Rivers, they got climatic conditions conducive to long term development of civilization on the banks of these rivers providing security of water, food and shelter for a very long time. Thousands of years later, when some of these Himalayan Rivers became non-perennial or started drying up, some of these people started moving towards Central Asia and Europe. As per ecologists this ecological cycle has been repeating itself and will get repeated after every ice age and during the beginnings of all Holocene cycles. Therefore the history of growth of civilization in the world is not 4 to 5 thousand years old but it is more than 10,000 years old.
 
So far history of the world, particularly of Indian subcontinent, is based on linguistic guesswork and religious beliefs/hearsay. However, during last 30-40 years, several new scientific tools and techniques have been developed, which are capable to determining the dates of any ancient events in scientific and precise manner. For example:
1. Computer aided extraction of planetary references from ancient books.
2. Planetarium softwares for astronomical dating of such references
3. Satellite based Remote Sensing techniques
4. Underwater explorations and Geospatial Technologies
5. Radiocarbon dating, Thermo Luminescence dating methods
6. Human Genome studies, Biological and Cultural Anthropology
7. Palaeobotanical, Palaeozoological and Palaeoclimatic studies
8. Geographic and Geological research tools.
 
Multi-disciplinary scientific research reports, prepared during last three- four decades by making use of such scientific tools and techniques, were used for dating the events narrated in Valmiki Ramayan and resuts were amazing! Once the astronomical dating was determined around 7000 BP, it appeared that almost all research reports were corroborating such conclusions and opening before us the pages of our true history; shifting many events from the domain of mythology to the realm of realty.
The story of Shri Ram‘s life was first narrated by Maharishi Valmiki in the ‘Ramayan’ which was written after Shri Ram was crowned as the king of Ayodhya, Maharishi Valmiki had a great sense of astronomy as he has made sequential astronomical references on important dates related to the life of Shri Ram indicating the location of planets vis-à-vis the zodiac constellations and other visible stars (nakshatras). Needless to add that similar position of planets and nakshatras vis-à-vis zodiac constellations and the equinoxes is not repeated in 25690 years. By entering the precise details of the planetary configuration of the important events in the life of Shri Ram as given in the Valmiki Ramayan in the software named ‘Planetarium Gold’ corresponding exact dates of these events according to English calendar can be known.
Sh. Pushkar Bhatnagar of Indian Revenue Service had acquired from USA the software named ‘Planetarium Gold’ (of Fogware Publishing) which is used to predict the solar/lunar eclipses and distance and location of other planets from earth by the scientists and astronomers. He entered the relevant detail about the planetary positions vis-à-vis zodiac constellations narrated by Maharishi Valmiki and obtained very interesting and convincing results, which almost determine the important dates starting from the birth of Shri Ram to the date of his coming back to Ayodhya after 14 years of exile. Sh. Pushkar Bhatnagar has given very authentic and convincing details of these dates in his book titled ‘Dating the Era of Lord Ram’ published by Rupa and Co’. some extracts from which are also being summarised in the succeeding paras.
Date of Birth of Lord Ram
Aadikavi Valmiki in 1/18/8-10 of Ramayan has given details that Shri Ram was born on 9th tithi of Chaitra month during day time when the position of different planets vis-à-vis zodiac constellations and nakshatras (visible stars) was as under:
1. Sun in Aries                         2. Saturn in Libra 3. Jupiter in Cancer                4. Venus in Pisces 5. Mars in Capricorn              6. Lunar month of Chaitra 7. Ninth day after Amavasya  8. Lagna as Cancer 9. Moon near the star Punar vasu (Pollux) in Gemini Constellation.
Moon & Jupiter were shining together in Cancer.
This data was entered into the ‘Planetarium Gold’ software, the results indicated that this was exactly the location of planets/stars vis-à-vis zodiac constellations on the 10th of January noon time in the year 5114 BC if viewed from latitude/longitude of Ayodhya (25°N 81°E). Thus Shri Ram was born on 10th January in 5114 BC.
By making use of software to convert solar calendar into lunar calendar, it was found that this date also happened to be the 9th day of Shukla Paksha in ‘Chaitra’ month and the time was around 12 to 1 noontime. This is exactly the time and date when Ramnavmi is celebrated all over India till date (Fig.1).
 Fig.  1:  Showing Planetary position on 10th January, 5114 BC, the date on which Lord Ram was born
Date of Exile of Shri Ram
In Valmiki Ramayan it is mentioned in Ayodhya Kaand (2/4/18) that Dashratha wanted to make Shri Ram the king because Sun, Mars and Rahu had surrounded his nakshatra and normally under such planetary positions the king dies or becomes a victim of conspiracies. Zodiac sign of king Dashratha was Pisces and his nakshatra was Rewati. This planetary position was prevailing on the 5th of January 5089 BC and it was on this day that Shri Ram had to leave Ayodhya for 14 years. Thus he was 25 years old at that time (5114-5089) and there are several shlokas in Valmiki Ramayan which indicate that Shri Ram was 25 years old when he left Ayodhya for his 14 years of exile.
Solar Eclipse during War with Khar-Dushan
Ramayan refers to the solar eclipse at the time of war with Khar-Dushan in later half of 13th year of Shri Ram’s stay in the forests. Valmiki has also mentioned that it was Amavasya day and planet Mars was in the middle. When this data was entered, the sky view generated by computer software indicated that there was a solar eclipse on 7th October, 5077 BC (Amavasya day) which could be seen from Panchvati (20° N; 73° E) (Fig. 2). On that date planetary configuration was the same as has been described by Valmiki i.e. Mars was in the middle; on one side were Mercury, Venus and Jupiter and on the other side were Sun, Moon and Saturn.
 
 Fig. 2: Showing Planetary position on 7th October, 5077 BC (Amavasya), the day of Solar Eclipse, when Lord Ram fought the battle with Khar.
Other Eclipses mentioned in Ramayan
In Kishkindha kaand there is a reference to solar eclipse (4/15/3) on the day Bali was killed. Software shows a solar eclipse on 3rd April 5076 BC which was the only solar eclipse during the entire year.
In Sunder Kaand there is a reference to lunar eclipse when Hanuman spots Sita in Ashok Vatika (5/19/14, 5/29/7, 5/35/87). Sky view reveals lunar eclipse starting from 4.15 pm on 12th September 5076 BC from Colombo (7°N; 80°E)
All these sequentially fully tally with the description in Ramayan.
Other Important Dates
Only six of the twelve constellations remain above the horizon at the same time. Valmiki Ramayan contains graphic and poetic details of eight constellations during Hanuman’s return journey from Sri Lanka to Sunaabh Hill in the middle of the sea which apparently took about four and a half hours from 6:30 AM to 11 AM. All these details of planets and nakshtras with reference to eight constellations described in Sarga 57 (1, 2, 3) of chapter five tally exactly with the sky view generated by the software for the morning of 14th September 5076 BC from Lanka.
On the basis of planetary configurations described in various other chapters of Valmiki Ramayan, the date on which Ravana was killed works out to be 4th December 5076 BC and Shri Ram completed 14 years of exile on 2nd January, 5075 BC and that day was also Navami of Shukla Paksha in Chaitra month. Thus Shri Ram had come back to Ayodhya when he was 39 years old (5114-5075).
Sequential Details of Places visited by Shri Ram during 14 years of exile: Geographic Evidences
Many researchers, particularly a colleague Dr. Ram Autar, have researched on places visited by Shri Ram during 14 years of exile. They sequentially moved to the places stated as visited by Shri Ram in the Valmiki Ramayan. Starting from Ayodhya, they went right up to Rameshwaram. They found more than 189 (+60 identified later on) places, most of which still have the memorials connected to the events relating to the life of Shri Ram and Sita and also match the description given in Ramayan (see Map).
The locals believe that Shri Ram had actually visited these places. These details have been compiled in his book ‘In the Footsteps of Shri Ram’. These details can be broadly divided into five phases.
First Phase-Gangetic Belt
They went to Tamsa Nadi Tal (Mandah), 20 km from Ayodhya, thereafter crossed Gomti river (Point no. 2 to 7 of map 1) and reached on the banks of Saryu river. After crossing the boundary of Kosal Desh, they entered Shringaverapura (Srigraur) which was kingdom of Nishadraj Guh and is famous for Kewat taking them across Ganga in his boat (20 km from Allahabad).
After crossing Yamuna near Sangam they reached Chitrakoot on Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Madhya Pradesh (MP) borders – memorials here include Valmiki Ashram, Mandavya Ashram, Bharat Koop etc which still exist. After Bharat Milap they left Chitrakoot and went to Atri Ashram located in Satana in MP.
Second Phase in Dandak Van
Along with Laxman and Sita, Shri Ram extensively travelled through this land of rivulets, water bodies and dense forests in and around MP and Chhattisgarh. They roamed around in Dandak Aranya area and visited Sharbhang and Sutikshan Muni ashrams in Satna. Thereafter, they visited several Rishi ashrams in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh area, along Narmada and Mahanadi rivers for 10 years, and then came back to Sutikshan ashram. Several memorials in Panna, Raipur, Bastar and Jagdalpur still exist which include Mandavya ashram, Shringi ashram, Ram Laxman Mandir and Koti Maheshwar etc.
After crossing many rivers, lakes, hills and forests they went to Agastya ashram in Nasik. As per Valmiki, weapons made in Agnishala were given to Shri Ram by Agastya Muni in this ashram.
Third Phase along Godavari
Shri Ram, Laxman and Sita travelled along Godavari, From Agastya ashram they went to stay in Panchavati – a place with 5 Vatavriksha located on the banks of Godavari in Nasik. This place is famous for Surpanakha episode and war with Khar and Dushan. There are memorials at the place where Mareech was stated as killed; these include Mrigvyadheshwar and Baneshwar. In fact, Nasik area is full of memorials, e.g. Sita Sarovar, Ram Kund and Triambakeshwar and Janasthan etc. After this incident, Sita was abducted by Ravana, who also killed Jatayu relating to which memorial ‘Sar vatiratha’ in Taked Village, 56 km from Nasik, is still preserved.
Places visited by Lord Ram during Exile marked as red spots
Fourth Phase along Tungbhadra and Kaveri Shri Ram and Laxman extensively travelled through these areas in search of Sita. After meeting Jatayu and Kabandh they moved towards south to reach Rishyamook Parbat. On the way they visited Shabari ashram in Pampasarovar area which is now known as Sureban in Belgaon and is still famous for Ber trees. After crossing forests of Sandalwood, many gardens and water bodies, they went towards Rishyamook. Here they met Hanuman and Sugreev, and were shown Sita’s ornaments. Shri Ram killed Bali in this area. Rishyamook and Kishkindha are located in Hampi, Bellary District of Karnataka.
Fifth Phase
Shri Ram with his sena marched towards the sea. After crossing Malay Parbat, Chandan forests, many rivers and ponds they went along Kaveri River. After crossing Trishirapalli, Thanjavur and Ramanathapuram, they reached Rameshwaram. Almost all the details of travel narrated in all these five phases in Valmiki Ramayan tally with the existing geographic locations and memorials preserved.
Places in Sri Lanka The location and physical features of areas, covered under Ravana falls, Ravana caves and Ashok Vatika in and around Nuwara Elya Hills in Sri Lanka, will persuade anyone to believe that Valmiki, the author of Ramayan, was fully familiar with all these places. Vibhishan palace is also located almost at the same place as is described in Ramayan.Most of these places have similar geographic features, flora, fauna and memorials as have been described in Ramayan. If Valmiki had not visited/known about these places, how could he give such precise details in Ramayan which was composed as biography of Shri Ram when he was coronated as the King of Ayodhya in 5075 BC (1/4/1, 2). Originally it was passed on through shruti smriti tradition for hundreds of years but was available in text form by around 1000 BC. References of Ram’s story are available in:• Kautilya’s Arthasastra of 4th century BC.
• Buddhist literature in the form of ‘Dasharatha Jaraka’  ascribable to 3rd century BC.
• Terracotta figures of Ram ascribable to 2nd century BC excavated from Kaushambi.
• Stone panels excavated at Nagarjunakonda in Andhra Pradesh of 3rd century AD showing Ram-Bharat milap at Chitrakoot.
• Terracotta panels of 4th century AD excavated from Nachara Khera in Haryana.
• ‘Janaki Haran’, a poetic composition of Kumaradasa of Sri Lanka who lived in 7th century AD.There are hundreds of other evidences found not only from India but from countries like Sri Lanka, Tibet, Thailand, Malayasia, Combodia and Indonesia. In Nepal oldest manuscript of Valmiki Ramayan written in 1041 AD in Newari script is still preserved, probably the oldest preserved manuscript of the world.
RamsethuDuring visit to Rameshwaram, author got an extra-ordinary opportunity to observe the depth at which Ramsethu was found submerged under the sea which measured 9.5 feet on the fisherman’s oar. Author had also seen small portion as shown in figure 8 indicating contribution of human hand with marked boundaries and stone filling seen through the mask used for snorkeling.
Fig. 8: Boundaries looking like ropes & the fillings in between
Ram’s Bridge – its satellite image and oceanographic evidences:
Ram-sena first camped in Koddikarai but after surveying the sea area, the location was found unsuitable for constructing the bridge. Therefore, Shri Ram shifted the entire army to Rameshwaram. In Yuddh Kand, sarg 22 (shlokas 45-73) Valmiki has given graphic details of Lord Ram carrying out research and exploration to identify a suitable location for construction of the bridge. After identifying the location, he requested Sugriva to search for an expert Shilpakar who could construct such a bridge. Sugriva recommended the name of Nal, a famous shilpakar, who had the expertise similar to that of Vishwakarma in constructing the bridge. Accordingly Nal was called; he concurred that bridge could indeed to constructed at the location identified by Shri Ram. The construction of this bridge was completed under the supervision of Nal in five days by filling up of the gaps in the existing natural chain of land route consisting of islands, rocks and shoals (6/22/68-73).The armymen of Lord Ram utilized various tools and implements for uprooting trees like saal, taar, coconut, mango, ashoka, arjun, bakul and bilva etc (6/22/47). With the help of various yantras they transported these stones, trees, creepers, and boulders to the seashore (2/22/60). Shilpakar Nal directed the armymen to stand with long ropes on either side and got the bridge constructed in five days by binding such transported materials together. Even the use of measuring tools has been described (6/22/65).
Satellite Image A few years back, NASA had put pictures on internet of this bridge, the ruins of which are found submerged in Palk Strait between Rameshwaram (Dhanush Koti) and Mannar (Thalaimannar). The bridge is composed of a series of islands, rocks, and shoals and it is stated to be 30 kilometers long. It is found exactly at the location narrated in Valmiki Ramayan. See NASA picture of this Bridge (Fig. 10).
Sea Level Curve
The use of this bridge as land route between India and Sri Lanka depended on the fluctuations in sea level for thousands of years as it was sometimes above the sea level and was at other times submerged under the seawater. Dr. Rajiv Nigam, Scientist-G and Head of Palaeoclimate Project, Geological Oceanography Division, National Institute of Oceanography, Goa, in his paper on “Sea level Fluctuations during last 15000 years and their Impact on Human Settlements”, explained that between 7000 – 7200 BP the water level was about three meters below the present level. Incidentally, the astronomical dating of the Ram era has been placed around 7100 BP (DoB 10th Jan, 5114 BC) and Ramsethu is found submerged at about three meters depth at present, implying thereby that in 5100 BC this Sethu was above the sea level and could be used as a land route between Rameshwaram and Sri Lanka. Thus even fluctuations in sea levels corroborate references to Ramsethu in Ramayan.
Report by Department of Earth Sciences
According to Dr. Badrinarayan, former Director of Geological Survey of India, under whom geological aspects of the Sethusamudram Shipping Channel Project (SSCP) were studied, “Ramsethu is a natural formation, the top portion of which appears to be man-made” because in between marine sands, there is assemblage of corals, sandstones and boulders etc. The report also revealed that on both sides of the Bridge there are some raised Teriformations that supported a rich assemblage of mesolithic – microlithic tools indicating the presence of strong human habitation and activity in these areas as early as 8000 to 9000 BP and as recent as 4000 BP”
Other Interesting facts All attempts to create shipping route by completing the Sethu Samudram project have so far failed. Shri Subramnian Swamy summarized the report dated January 23, 2007 published in the Asian Age stating that “the Dredging Corporation of India’s (DCI) dredger imported from Holland had broken into two and sunk into the sea when it began work on the Ram Setu. The DCI crane that went to pick up the dredger pieces also broke and sank. The Russian engineer consultant who went to inspect the mishap broke his leg.” As a result all efforts made on behalf of the Government so far to destroy remains of Ram Setu have failed and consequently Sethusamudram Shipping Canal could not become a reality. Sri Lankan government wanted to construct a land route over this submerged bridge whereas Government of India wanted to blast it for shipping i.e. Sethusamudaram project. Shri Jaisurya, Energy Minister of Sri Lanka had proposed construction of land route between India and Sri Lanka on this submerged Ramsethu. There are several multi-nationals offering to construct the bridge under BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer) scheme. Can one imagine the number of people from India who will walk over this reconstructed Ram Sethu every year and the kind of profit the builder as well as Indian and Sri Lankan Government would be able to earn!
Ancestors of Shri Ram: Co-relation of genealogy with genetic studies Indian history has recorded that Shri Ram belonged to Surya Vansh and he was the 64th ruler of this dynasty. Most of the names and other relevant particulars of previous 63 kings are listed in ‘Ayodhya Ka Itihas’ written about eighty years back by Rai Bahadur Sita Ram. In fact most of the names of these ancestors of Lord Ram have been listed in Valmiki Ramayan itself as narrated by Vashistha Muni to Raja Janak. (1/70 and 71). (all listed below in table 1).
Table 1: Showing Ancestors and descendants of Shri Ram
 
Almost all the major Genome studies carried out so far have revealed an amazing correlation of this genealogy with the genetic profile of humans settled in north, south, east and west of India since the Holocene (about 11000 years BP) to the present. Almost all the important studies in palaeo- anthropology, including those carried out by Kenneth A. R. Kennedy and Cavalli-Sfroza, have concluded that genetic profile of people of the Indian subcontinent has remained the same for last more than 55000 years and that for last 11000 years this profile is of culturally developing people who had started speaking a structured language and were taking cooked food.
The Essence
From Kashmir to Kanyakumari and from Bengal to Gujarat, everywhere people of India believe in the reality of Shri Ram’s existence and most of our festivals revolve around the events related to the life of Shri Ram. The events and places referred to in Ramayan represent our most ancient heritage, which has developed and got enriched subsequently during the eras of Lord Krishna, Mahatma Buddha, Mahavir Jain, Jesus Christ, Prophet Mohammed and Guru Nanak Dev.
The story of Shri Ram, when appreciated in its true perspective, would emerge as the biggest unifying factor for India and it establishes many ideals which we need to emulate today. He remains unparalleled as an ideal son, an ideal brother, an ideal warrior and an ideal king; that is why he is described as Maryada Purushottam Ram! He was a nationalist par excellence who left his kingdom to help the small kings located all over India to save their kingdoms from being usurped by wicked King Ravana of Sri Lanka and his relatives and devils like Khar, Dushan and Maarich representing him in India. Shri Ram moved from place to place to spread the message of unity by showing very high level of respect for the people from backward tribes and those considered untouchable. He embraced Guh Nishad who belonged to a lower caste; he gave a strong message against untouchability by eating with great affection jootha berries of Bhilni (Shabri). He sent his wife and children to be brought up and educated by Maharishi Valmiki who is stated to be Shudra but was a great scholar in the ancient world. Shri Ram tried and succeeded in establishing victory of good over evil. He helped rishis and munis in living a life of honor. He got the kingdoms of small noble kings restored to them and acted as the biggest unifying factor.
The astronomical dating of planetary references given in Valmiki Ramayan with corroborating archaeological, geological, oceanographic, geographic evidences, further supported by genealogical studies duly correlated with genome studies have established with a fair amount of certainty that Shri Ram was actually born more than 7000 year back. Therefore discovering the physical details relating to the life and times of Shri Ram would be much more difficult as destruction caused by floods, droughts, earthquakes, tectonic movements, tsunamis and wars etc is bound to be far greater. But should that stop our quest for learning more and more about our most ancient rich cultural heritage? As Indians, let us all take pride in the fact that Indian civilization is the most ancient civilization surviving on planet earth. It is certainly more than 10,000 years old and has been growing and developing indigenously. There is need to gather, dig out, search, and analyse all the evidences, which would throw more light on ancient Indian civilization and culture. The Government needs to be persuaded to constitute a multidisciplinary team in order to carry out scientific research pertaining to most ancient events narrated in our ancient books and this team should consist of Sanskrit scholars, astronomers, archaeologists, geologists, oceanographers, palaeobotanists, anthropologists, space scientists etc. This team should be asked to rewrite the history of Indian Subcontinent based on purely scientific evidence. There is need for the print and the electronic media to take note of these facts and create atmosphere which would motivate our young and educated youth to carry out research and unearth true facts about ancient Indian civilization and wisdom and would also encourage them to put across the results of their research before the world fearlessly and with a sense of pride.
Saroj Bala
Director, I-SERVE Delhi Chapter
(More comprehensive details are available in the Book ‘Historicity of Vedic and Ramayan Eras’, recently published by I-SERVE)

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Ramayan : Scientific Truths 1  

Posted by Ambar jaiswal

The reference to the "monkey" and "bear" people in the Ramayana simply reflected a straightforward reading of the English translation of the Ramayan of Valmiki made by R. T. H. Griffith, Principal of Benares College, in 1874. The two leading generals of the "monkeys" or Vanar -- Hanuman and Sugriva -- are named there and both play prominent roles in Rama's war against Ravana, the Vanar legions themselves figuring more prominently than do the "bear" legions in alliance with Rama. In fact, in the epic no "bear" is singled out by name, and the "bear" legions appear only relatively anonymously and in second place to the "monkeys." In addition, Rama asks his friend Hanuman to find Sita, his wife, who had disappeared. The loyal Hanuman, at great risk to his own life, and after many adventures testing his courage and intelligence, at last finds Sita who has been kidnapped by Ravana through a trick and taken to his stronghold on the island of Lanka, headquarters of the Rakshasa host.




Inasmuch as the "bears" are depicted as having the same distinctively human qualities as assigned to the "monkeys" in the epic, I think we are justified in concluding that they, too, were some sort of hominid and not a mere animal species such as the bears today. It would have been helpful if the epic had better delineated the "bears," for then we could more accurately analyze if and where they might figure among early hominids! By getting and reading a good translation of this marvelous Indian record of prehistory -- as I think it is -- one can decide for oneself how he or she would characterize the "bear" people.



Turning now to the query: neanderthaloid versus Homo sapiens fossilis, it is true that formerly anthropologists regarded the two types as quite distinct sorts of early men, and the former as hardly a man. This all came about because of a description of neanderthaloids based on the only skeleton then found (in La Chapelle-aux-Saints by the Abbe Bouyssonie), prepared by M. Boule of the Institute of Human Palaeontology in Paris in 1908. That report is now acknowledged by many anthropologists to have done much to disseminate misleading ideas about the whole neanderthaloid question. As recently as 1957 it was still being cited as a major source of information about the nature of the neanderthal man. But in that year the La Chapelle skeleton was re-examined by two anatomists, from Johns Hopkins University and St. Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College of London, who found that it was very atypical, being that of an old male who had suffered extensively from arthritis of the jaws, spine and lower limbs (which had led M. Boule to ascribe to neanderthaloids; a shuffling, ape-like gait with head lowered), and moreover that reconstruction of the skull had been defective. After that expert re-examination, and in the light of some 60-odd fossil skeletal remains of neanderthaloids since found (some 10 of them after 1950), the picture began to change in several major respects.

What Wikipedia says about Neanderthal

The Neanderthal (short for Neanderthal Man, in English pronounced /niːˈændərtɑːl/, /niːˈændərθɔːl/) or /neɪˈændərtɑːl/; also spelled Neandertal) is an extinct member of the Homo genus that is known from Pleistocene specimens found in Europe and parts of western and central Asia. Neanderthals are either classified as a subspecies (or race) of humans (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis) or as a separate species (Homo neanderthalensis).




The first proto-Neanderthal traits appeared in Europe as early as 600,000–350,000 years ago. Proto-Neanderthal traits are occasionally grouped to another phenetic 'species', Homo heidelbergensis, or a migrant form, Homo rhodesiensis. By 130,000 years ago, complete Neanderthal characteristics had appeared. These characteristics then disappeared in Asia by 50,000 years ago and in Europe by 30,000 years ago.Current (as of 2010) genetic evidence suggests interbreeding took place with Homo sapiens between roughly 80,000 to 50,000 years ago in the Middle East, resulting in non-ethnic sub-Saharan Africans (e.g. Caucasians) having between 1% and 4% more Neanderthal DNA than ethnic sub-Saharan Africans.

Classification




First reconstruction of Neanderthal manFor some time, scientists have debated whether Neanderthals should be classified as Homo neanderthalensis or as Homo sapiens neanderthalensis, the latter placing Neanderthals as a subspecies of Homo sapiens.[not in citation given. Some morphological studies support that Homo neanderthalensis is a separate species and not a subspecies.Others, for example University of Cambridge Professor Paul Mellars, say "no evidence has been found of cultural interaction" and evidence from mitochondrial DNA studies have been interpreted as evidence Neanderthals were not a subspecies of H. sapiens.



Neanderthals evolved from early Homo along a path similar to Homo sapiens, both deriving from a chimp-like ancestor between five and 10 million years ago. Like H.sap., Neanderthals are related to Australopithecus, Homo habilis, and Homo ergaster; the exact descent remains uncertain. The last common ancestor between anatomically modern Homo sapiens and Neanderthals appears to be Homo rhodesiensis, named after an archaic Homo sapiens fossil, Broken hill 1 (Kabwe 1) discovered in the territory of Rhodesia in 1921.



Homo rhodesiensis arose in Africa an estimated 0.7 to 1 million years ago. The earliest estimates for Homo rhodesiensis reaching Europe are approximately 800 thousand years ago when a type of human referred to as Homo antecessor or Homo cepranensis already inhabited the region. These two human types may be forerunners to European Homo heidelbergensis, however stone tools dating from 1.2 to 1.56 million years ago of an unknown creator have been discovered in Southwestern Europe. The evidence at the Sima de los Huesos (in the Atapuerca cave system on the Iberian Peninsula) suggest that Homo heidelbergensis was already in Europe by 600,000 years ago.



Molecular phylogenetic analysis suggests that Homo rhodesiensis and Homo heidelbergensis continued to intermix until 350,000 years ago, after which they were separate species and sometime within the last 200,000 years Homo heidelbergensis evolved into Homo neanderthalensis, the classic Neanderthal man. It appears that the original Neanderthal population was in fact more distantly related to today's human than is Homo heidelbergensis. However, recent evidence of successful interbreeding between Neanderthals and modern humans has made that issue moot, at least insofar as some Neanderthal populations were concerned.





The youngest Neanderthal finds include Hyaena Den (UK), considered older than 30,000 years ago, while the Vindija (Croatia) Neanderthals have been re-dated to between 32,000 and 33,000 years ago. No definite specimens younger than 30,000 years ago have been found; however, evidence of fire by Neanderthals at Gibraltar indicate that they may have survived there until 24,000 years ago. Cro-Magnon or early modern human skeletal remains with 'Neanderthal traits' were found in Lagar Velho (Portugal), dated to 24,500 years ago and controversially interpreted as indications of extensively admixed populations.[

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